This album has been around for some time now but recent high-profile session and live work with Elton John, Patti Labelle, Nile Rodgers and Joss Stone have encouraged Adam L McKnight to re-promote his solo set. The thirteen tracker is a solid and steady indie soul set that suffers from too many songs being stuck in the same groove. The opening trio, for instance, are decent mid-tempo cuts but none of them have that magical hook that might make you take serious notice. More, they purport to be “serious” songs which explore heavy issues but their platitudes don’t quite work. The best bits on this album come when Adam and his team offer something a little different – like ‘You Inspire Me’. That one opens with a burst of brass and has a feel of Malaco about it – though it’s just a tad too restrained to be totally convincing. ‘Many Times’ offers something a little different too. Here there’s a lovely jazzy sax part from Michael Burton which trades places with Adam’s convincing vocal – shades of Tyrone Davis? Elsewhere ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’ is a busy tune that might inspire some footwork from the dancers but with such a lot of material like this out there at the moment, it’s just not that different to make it really stand out. Indeed that the best way to describe the album – decent, bread and butter modern indie soul.
(BB) 3/5
